Autolacing footwear system with preset user profiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11350692-B2
Application number	US-201816171265-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2018
Priority date	Oct 25, 2017
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

A system includes an article of footwear and a remote system. The article of footwear includes an adaptive configured to be adjusted to one of a plurality of configurations based on a command received from a processor circuit. The remote system includes an electronic data storage, configured to store a user profile including the plurality of configurations, and a processor configured to prompt, on a user interface, a user to put on the article of footwear, receive, via a wireless transceiver, a signal from the article of footwear indicating that the article of footwear has been placed on the foot of a wearer, access, one of the plurality of configurations based on a user selection, and transmit the one of the plurality of configurations as selected. The processor circuit causes the adaptive component to be configured according to the one of the plurality of configurations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an article of footwear, comprising:
a wireless transceiver;
a processor circuit operatively coupled to the wireless transceiver; and
an adaptive component, operatively coupled to the processor circuit, configured to be adjusted to one of a plurality of configurations based on a command received from the processor circuit;
a remote system, comprising:
an electronic data storage, configured to store a user profile including the plurality of configurations;
a user interface;
a wireless transceiver configured to communicatively couple to the wireless transceiver of the article of footwear; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the user interface and the wireless transceiver of the remote system, the processor configured to:
prompt, on the user interface, a wearer to put on the article of footwear;
receive, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, a signal from the article of footwear indicating that the article of footwear has been placed on a foot of the wearer;
command, based on receiving the signal, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, the adaptive component to perform a calibration to identify a maximum property of the adaptive component;
receive, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, a signal from the article of footwear indicating what the maximum property is;
calibrate the plurality of configurations to prevent any of the plurality of configurations from exceeding the maximum property; and
transmit, via the wireless transceiver, one of the plurality of configurations as calibrated;
wherein, upon receiving the one of the plurality of configurations, the processor circuit causes the adaptive component to be configured according to the one of the plurality of configurations.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive component comprises a motor and wherein the calibration includes measuring a current through the motor.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the motor is operated until the current through the motor meets a predetermined maximum current.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the adaptive component further includes an encoder, and wherein the processor circuit is configured to transmit, as the signal indicating the maximum property, a setting of the encoder that corresponds to when the motor meets the predetermined maximum current.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of configurations are part of the user profile stored in the electronic data storage, wherein the user profile further comprises a database to store multiple records, each record comprising one plurality of configurations associated with a particular article of footwear.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the adaptive component is a motorized lacing system, and wherein each of the plurality of configurations describes a degree of tension on a lace induced by the motorized lacing system.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the motorized lacing system comprises a motor, a spool, and an encoder configured to determine a rotational position of the spool, and wherein the each of the plurality of configurations describes an encoder setting corresponding to a desired degree of tension on the lace.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
prompt a user, via the user interface, to manually adjust the degree of tension on the lace based on a user input from the user; and
update the one of the plurality of configurations based on the degree of tension as manually adjusted.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote system comprises a mobile device, and wherein the user interface, the wireless transceiver of the remote system, the electronic data storage, and the processor are components of the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the remote system further comprises a remote electronic data storage accessible via a network connection by the mobile device, wherein the remote electronic data storage is configured to store the user profile including the plurality of configurations, and wherein the processor is further configured to download the plurality of configurations from the remote electronic data storage.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when implemented by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
prompt, on a user interface of a remote system, a wearer to put on an article of footwear, the article of footwear comprising a wireless transceiver, a processor circuit operatively coupled to the wireless transceiver of the article of footwear, and an adaptive component, operatively coupled to the processor circuit, configured to be adjusted to one of a plurality of configurations based on a command received from the processor circuit;
receive, via a wireless transceiver of the remote system, a signal from the article of footwear indicating that the article of footwear has been placed on a foot of the wearer;
command, based on receiving the signal, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, the adaptive component to perform a calibration to identify a maximum property of the adaptive component;
receive, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, a signal from the article of footwear indicating what the maximum property is;
calibrate the plurality of configurations to prevent any of the plurality of configurations from exceeding the maximum property; and
transmitting, via the wireless transceiver of the remote system, one of the plurality of configurations as calibrated;
wherein, upon receiving the one of the plurality of configurations, the processor circuit causes the adaptive component to be configured according to the one of the plurality of configurations.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the adaptive component comprises a motor and wherein the calibration includes measuring a current through the motor.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the motor is operated until the current through the motor meets a predetermined maximum current.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the adaptive component further includes an encoder, and wherein the processor circuit is configured to transmit, as the signal indicating the maximum property, a setting of the encoder that corresponds to when the motor meets the predetermined maximum current.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of configurations are part of the user profile stored in the electronic data storage, wherein the user profile further comprises a database to store multiple records, each record comprising one plurality of configurations associated with a particular article of footwear.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the adaptive component is a motorized lacing system, and wherein each of the plurality of configurations describes a degree of tension on a lace induced by the motorized lacing system.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the motorized lacing system comprises a motor, a spool, and an encoder configured to determine a rotational position of the spool, and wherein the each of the plurality of configurations describes an encoder setting corresponding to a desired degree of tension on the lace.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instruction further cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
prompt a user, via the user interface, to manually adjust the degree of tension on the lace based on a user input from the user; and

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Andon Christopher
• Lee Yujin
• Kripakaran Kiran
• Martz Bryan

Classifications

• A43C1/04 Primary

  with rings or loops · CPC title

• A43B3/0031

  provided with a pocket, e.g. for keys or a card · CPC title

• A43B3/34 Primary

  with electrical or electronic arrangements · CPC title

• B65H2553/51

  Encoders, e.g. linear · CPC title

• B65H75/4486

  Electric motors · CPC title